10.17.2010

The Trip North

The Trip North

Well, we're here.

Actually, we've been here for two weeks now, but I haven't hadinternet access until now. Thank you for your prayers and yourpatience!

Wow, so much has happened! The trip north from Nairobi to Mundri tookabout three and a half days--long days. The four of us, Luke and I,Jared, and Eric left Nairobi about noon on Tuesday, the 28th ofSeptember. We slept around a fire the first night beside the road,high up in the Kenyan mountains. We were surrounded by beautiful pinetrees, and it got quite cold--not exactly what I had expected! Thenext day however, we descended into the furnace. The winding roadtook us abruptly out of the woods and down into the desert, and thescenery changed to scrub brush, termite mounds, and camels.

I really enjoyed seeing all the different vistas, which was fortunate,because I had an unobstructed view of these changes from my perch onthe back of our loaded truck--the seat I maintained for the entirejourney :) We arranged the luggage so that Luke's motorbike was inthe middle of the truck bed with our bags on either side, ourthermarests and blankets arranged on top, and then a large tarp overall that with tie-downs running over everything. Don't worry Mom, Iwas in no danger of falling off; the two of us who were riding in theback reclined underneath the tie-downs. I even managed to doze a fewtimes :)

Anyway, we continued through the desert, stopping at a town calledLodwar that evening. Jared has a friend, David, who works at thepetrol station in Lodwar, and he invited us to his compound for thenight. I was really touched by David's generous spirit. Not only didhe allow us to spend the night at his house, and feed us two meals,but because he has a job that provides some amount of steady income(although meager), he has taken on the task of providing for hisbrothers, his mother, some of his wife's siblings, nephews in school,and so on. He really takes Paul's injunction for believers to carefor their family members seriously.

The next morning we made it to the Sudanese border, and after quite abit of negotiation, paperwork, and taxation, we were allowed into thecountry. As Jared and Luke were busy with all that, I made friendswith several of the soldiers sitting around. They were quiteinterested in America and seemed to think that all of my explanationswere hilarious. One of the things that struck them as particularlyfunny was my attempt to explain why I was not yet married. Most ofthem had several wives, but I, a comparatively wealthy, healthy man ofmarriageable age, had none. When I explained that I was waiting tofind the right one, they roared with laughter. "You have spent 23years in America and you haven't found the right one yet?" they asked. "Maybe after another 23 you will find her!" "Perhaps I will find onehere in South Sudan," I said. This was greeted with additionallaughter, and they kindly explained that I didn't have enough cows tobuy a Sudanese wife. "You would need at least 100 cows," they toldme. Apparently I'm too picky for an American wife and too poor for aSudanese one. I guess I'll have to wait a while longer :)

We spent a short night a little ways into Sudan, at the town ofKapoeta. It was considered a full day of driving to reach Juba, andwe needed to go at least 4 hours past Juba, to Mundri. Friday morningwe headed out at 4:00 am, and fortunately, due to the hard work of theUN World Food Programme workers who were doing some road renovations,we made it to Juba around 2:00. After some more hassles in Juba,which left me with a distinct aversion to the town, we left for Mundriaround 5:30, less some money, and carrying another passenger (a friendof the military police who stopped us at the checkpoint on the way outof town and who wanted a ride to Mundri.) This made for a rathercrowded four hours, as the volume of the money we left behind was morethan taken up by the person we picked up. Needless to say, we weregrateful to arrive at Frontline's compound in Mundri shortly after9:00 pm Friday evening. It was quite the trip, and we're verythankful that God kept us safe and enabled us to arrive without anymajor delays. I hope to be able to post some pictures of the trip ina little while.

3 comments:

Oh man! That must have been a funny conversation with the soldiers! I think a S. Sudanese wife would be a wonderful addition to the family - although the lack of cows does pose a problem. Oh well... I love you! Thanks for all the blogs! I've enjoyed reading them SO much :) :)

Talking to the locals is a lot of fun. Last weekend one of my fellow volunteers started talking to a Maasai man, asking him about his village, how many people lived there and if he had any wives yet. He responded, with apparently seriousness, that he didn't have a wife yet because he was waiting for a nice white girl to marry so they could have children like Obama...